=====================
Using Request objects
=====================
HTTP request messages
---------------------
Request objects are all about building an HTTP message. Each part of an HTTP request message can be set individually
using methods on the request object or set in bulk using the ``setUrl()`` method. Here's the format of an HTTP request
with each part of the request referencing the method used to change it::
PUT(a) /path(b)?query=123(c) HTTP/1.1(d)
X-Header(e): header
Content-Length(e): 4
data(f)
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| a. **Method** | The request method can only be set when instantiating a request |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| b. **Path** | ``$request->setPath('/path');`` |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| c. **Query** | ``$request->getQuery()->set('query', '123');`` |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| d. **Protocol version** | ``$request->setProtocolVersion('1.1');`` |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| e. **Header** | ``$request->setHeader('X-Header', 'header');`` |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| f. **Entity Body** | ``$request->setBody('data'); // Only available with PUT, POST, PATCH, DELETE`` |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Creating requests with a client
-------------------------------
Client objects are responsible for creating HTTP request objects.
GET requests
~~~~~~~~~~~~
`GET requests `_ are the most common form of HTTP
requests. When you visit a website in your browser, the HTML of the website is downloaded using a GET request. GET
requests are idempotent requests that are typically used to download content (an entity) identified by a request URL.
.. code-block:: php
use Guzzle\Http\Client;
$client = new Client();
// Create a request that has a query string and an X-Foo header
$request = $client->get('http://www.amazon.com?a=1', array('X-Foo' => 'Bar'));
// Send the request and get the response
$response = $request->send();
You can change where the body of a response is downloaded on any request using the
``$request->setResponseBody(string|EntityBodyInterface|resource)`` method of a request. You can also set the ``save_to``
option of a request:
.. code-block:: php
// Send the response body to a file
$request = $client->get('http://test.com', array(), array('save_to' => '/path/to/file'));
// Send the response body to an fopen resource
$request = $client->get('http://test.com', array(), array('save_to' => fopen('/path/to/file', 'w')));
HEAD requests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
`HEAD requests `_ work exactly like GET requests except
that they do not actually download the response body (entity) of the response message. HEAD requests are useful for
retrieving meta information about an entity identified by a Request-URI.
.. code-block:: php
$client = new Guzzle\Http\Client();
$request = $client->head('http://www.amazon.com');
$response = $request->send();
echo $response->getContentLength();
// >>> Will output the Content-Length header value
DELETE requests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A `DELETE method `_ requests that the origin server
delete the resource identified by the Request-URI.
.. code-block:: php
$client = new Guzzle\Http\Client();
$request = $client->delete('http://example.com');
$response = $request->send();
POST requests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While `POST requests `_ can be used for a number of
reasons, POST requests are often used when submitting HTML form data to a website. POST requests can include an entity
body in the HTTP request.
POST requests in Guzzle are sent with an ``application/x-www-form-urlencoded`` Content-Type header if POST fields are
present but no files are being sent in the POST. If files are specified in the POST request, then the Content-Type
header will become ``multipart/form-data``.
The ``post()`` method of a client object accepts four arguments: the URL, optional headers, post fields, and an array of
request options. To send files in the POST request, prepend the ``@`` symbol to the array value (just like you would if
you were using the PHP ``curl_setopt`` function).
Here's how to create a multipart/form-data POST request containing files and fields:
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->post('http://httpbin.org/post', array(), array(
'custom_field' => 'my custom value',
'file_field' => '@/path/to/file.xml'
));
$response = $request->send();
.. note::
Remember to **always** sanitize user input when sending POST requests:
.. code-block:: php
// Prevent users from accessing sensitive files by sanitizing input
$_POST = array('firstname' => '@/etc/passwd');
$request = $client->post('http://www.example.com', array(), array (
'firstname' => str_replace('@', '', $_POST['firstname'])
));
You can alternatively build up the contents of a POST request.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->post('http://httpbin.org/post')
->setPostField('custom_field', 'my custom value')
->addPostFile('file', '/path/to/file.xml');
$response = $request->send();
Raw POST data
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
POST requests can also contain raw POST data that is not related to HTML forms.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->post('http://httpbin.org/post', array(), 'this is the body');
$response = $request->send();
You can set the body of POST request using the ``setBody()`` method of the
``Guzzle\Http\Message\EntityEnclosingRequest`` object. This method accepts a string, a resource returned from
``fopen``, or a ``Guzzle\Http\EntityBodyInterface`` object.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->post('http://httpbin.org/post');
// Set the body of the POST to stream the contents of /path/to/large_body.txt
$request->setBody(fopen('/path/to/large_body.txt', 'r'));
$response = $request->send();
PUT requests
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The `PUT method `_ requests that the enclosed entity be
stored under the supplied Request-URI. PUT requests are similar to POST requests in that they both can send an entity
body in the request message.
The body of a PUT request (any any ``Guzzle\Http\Message\EntityEnclosingRequestInterface`` object) is always stored as
a ``Guzzle\Http\Message\EntityBodyInterface`` object. This allows a great deal of flexibility when sending data to a
remote server. For example, you can stream the contents of a stream returned by fopen, stream the contents of a
callback function, or simply send a string of data.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->put('http://httpbin.org/put', array(), 'this is the body');
$response = $request->send();
Just like with POST, PATH, and DELETE requests, you can set the body of a PUT request using the ``setBody()`` method.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->put('http://httpbin.org/put');
$request->setBody(fopen('/path/to/large_body.txt', 'r'));
$response = $request->send();
PATCH requests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
`PATCH requests `_ are used to modify a resource.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->patch('http://httpbin.org', array(), 'this is the body');
$response = $request->send();
OPTIONS requests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The `OPTIONS method `_ represents a request for
information about the communication options available on the request/response chain identified by the Request-URI.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->options('http://httpbin.org');
$response = $request->send();
// Check if the PUT method is supported by this resource
var_export($response->isMethodAllows('PUT'));
Custom requests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can create custom HTTP requests that use non-standard HTTP methods using the ``createRequest()`` method of a
client object.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->createRequest('COPY', 'http://example.com/foo', array(
'Destination' => 'http://example.com/bar',
'Overwrite' => 'T'
));
$response = $request->send();
Query string parameters
-----------------------
Query string parameters of a request are owned by a request's ``Guzzle\Http\Query`` object that is accessible by
calling ``$request->getQuery()``. The Query class extends from ``Guzzle\Common\Collection`` and allows you to set one
or more query string parameters as key value pairs. You can set a parameter on a Query object using the
``set($key, $value)`` method or access the query string object like an associative array. Any previously specified
value for a key will be overwritten when using ``set()``. Use ``add($key, $value)`` to add a value to query string
object, and in the event of a collision with an existing value at a specific key, the value will be converted to an
array that contains all of the previously set values.
.. code-block:: php
$request = new Guzzle\Http\Message\Request('GET', 'http://www.example.com?foo=bar&abc=123');
$query = $request->getQuery();
echo "{$query}\n";
// >>> foo=bar&abc=123
$query->remove('abc');
echo "{$query}\n";
// >>> foo=bar
$query->set('foo', 'baz');
echo "{$query}\n";
// >>> foo=baz
$query->add('foo', 'bar');
echo "{$query}\n";
// >>> foo%5B0%5D=baz&foo%5B1%5D=bar
Whoah! What happened there? When ``foo=bar`` was added to the existing ``foo=baz`` query string parameter, the
aggregator associated with the Query object was used to help convert multi-value query string parameters into a string.
Let's disable URL-encoding to better see what's happening.
.. code-block:: php
$query->useUrlEncoding(false);
echo "{$query}\n";
// >>> foo[0]=baz&foo[1]=bar
.. note::
URL encoding can be disabled by passing false, enabled by passing true, set to use RFC 1738 by passing
``Query::FORM_URLENCODED`` (internally uses PHP's ``urlencode`` function), or set to RFC 3986 by passing
``Query::RFC_3986`` (this is the default and internally uses PHP's ``rawurlencode`` function).
As you can see, the multiple values were converted into query string parameters following the default PHP convention of
adding numerically indexed square bracket suffixes to each key (``foo[0]=baz&foo[1]=bar``). The strategy used to convert
multi-value parameters into a string can be customized using the ``setAggregator()`` method of the Query class. Guzzle
ships with the following query string aggregators by default:
1. ``Guzzle\Http\QueryAggregator\PhpAggregator``: Aggregates using PHP style brackets (e.g. ``foo[0]=baz&foo[1]=bar``)
2. ``Guzzle\Http\QueryAggregator\DuplicateAggregator``: Performs no aggregation and allows for key value pairs to be
repeated in a URL (e.g. ``foo=baz&foo=bar``)
3. ``Guzzle\Http\QueryAggregator\CommaAggregator``: Aggregates using commas (e.g. ``foo=baz,bar``)
.. _http-message-headers:
HTTP Message Headers
--------------------
HTTP message headers are case insensitive, multiple occurrences of any header can be present in an HTTP message
(whether it's valid or not), and some servers require specific casing of particular headers. Because of this, request
and response headers are stored in ``Guzzle\Http\Message\Header`` objects. The Header object can be cast as a string,
counted, or iterated to retrieve each value from the header. Casting a Header object to a string will return all of
the header values concatenated together using a glue string (typically ", ").
A request (and response) object have several methods that allow you to retrieve and modify headers.
* ``getHeaders()``: Get all of the headers of a message as a ``Guzzle\Http\Message\Header\HeaderCollection`` object.
* ``getHeader($header)``: Get a specific header from a message. If the header exists, you'll get a
``Guzzle\Http\Message\Header`` object. If the header does not exist, this methods returns ``null``.
* ``hasHeader($header)``: Returns true or false based on if the message has a particular header.
* ``setHeader($header, $value)``: Set a header value and overwrite any previously set value for this header.
* ``addHeader($header, $value)``: Add a header with a particular name. If a previous value was already set by the same,
then the header will contain multiple values.
* ``removeHeader($header)``: Remove a header by name from the message.
.. code-block:: php
$request = new Request('GET', 'http://httpbin.com/cookies');
// addHeader will set and append to any existing header values
$request->addHeader('Foo', 'bar');
$request->addHeader('foo', 'baz');
// setHeader overwrites any existing values
$request->setHeader('Test', '123');
// Request headers can be cast as a string
echo $request->getHeader('Foo');
// >>> bar, baz
echo $request->getHeader('Test');
// >>> 123
// You can count the number of headers of a particular case insensitive name
echo count($request->getHeader('foO'));
// >>> 2
// You can iterate over Header objects
foreach ($request->getHeader('foo') as $header) {
echo $header . "\n";
}
// You can get all of the request headers as a Guzzle\Http\Message\Header\HeaderCollection object
$headers = $request->getHeaders();
// Missing headers return NULL
var_export($request->getHeader('Missing'));
// >>> null
// You can see all of the different variations of a header by calling raw() on the Header
var_export($request->getHeader('foo')->raw());
Setting the body of a request
-----------------------------
Requests that can send a body (e.g. PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH) are instances of
``Guzzle\Http\Message\EntityEnclosingRequestInterface``. Entity enclosing requests contain several methods that allow
you to specify the body to send with a request.
Use the ``setBody()`` method of a request to set the body that will be sent with a request. This method accepts a
string, a resource returned by ``fopen()``, an array, or an instance of ``Guzzle\Http\EntityBodyInterface``. The body
will then be streamed from the underlying ``EntityBodyInterface`` object owned by the request. When setting the body
of the request, you can optionally specify a Content-Type header and whether or not to force the request to use
chunked Transfer-Encoding.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->put('/user.json');
$request->setBody('{"foo":"baz"}', 'application/json');
Content-Type header
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guzzle will automatically add a Content-Type header to a request if the Content-Type can be guessed based on the file
extension of the payload being sent or the file extension present in the path of a request.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->put('/user.json', array(), '{"foo":"bar"}');
// The Content-Type was guessed based on the path of the request
echo $request->getHeader('Content-Type');
// >>> application/json
$request = $client->put('/user.json');
$request->setBody(fopen('/tmp/user_data.json', 'r'));
// The Content-Type was guessed based on the path of the entity body
echo $request->getHeader('Content-Type');
// >>> application/json
Transfer-Encoding: chunked header
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When sending HTTP requests that contain a payload, you must let the remote server know how to determine when the entire
message has been sent. This usually is done by supplying a ``Content-Length`` header that tells the origin server the
size of the body that is to be sent. In some cases, the size of the payload being sent in a request cannot be known
before initiating the transfer. In these cases (when using HTTP/1.1), you can use the ``Transfer-Encoding: chunked``
header.
If the Content-Length cannot be determined (i.e. using a PHP ``http://`` stream), then Guzzle will automatically add
the ``Transfer-Encoding: chunked`` header to the request.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->put('/user.json');
$request->setBody(fopen('http://httpbin.org/get', 'r'));
// The Content-Length could not be determined
echo $request->getHeader('Transfer-Encoding');
// >>> chunked
See :doc:`/http-client/entity-bodies` for more information on entity bodies.
Expect: 100-Continue header
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ``Expect: 100-Continue`` header is used to help a client prevent sending a large payload to a server that will
reject the request. This allows clients to fail fast rather than waste bandwidth sending an erroneous payload. Guzzle
will automatically add the ``Expect: 100-Continue`` header to a request when the size of the payload exceeds 1MB or if
the body of the request is not seekable (this helps to prevent errors when a non-seekable body request is redirected).
.. note::
If you find that your larger requests are taking too long to complete, you should first check if the
``Expect: 100-Continue`` header is being sent with the request. Some servers do not respond well to this header,
which causes cURL to sleep for `1 second `_.
POST fields and files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Any entity enclosing request can send POST style fields and files. This includes POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE requests.
Any request that has set POST fields or files will use cURL's POST message functionality.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->post('/post');
// Set an overwrite any previously specified value
$request->setPostField('foo', 'bar');
// Append a value to any existing values
$request->getPostFields()->add('foo', 'baz');
// Remove a POST field by name
$request->removePostField('fizz');
// Add a file to upload (forces multipart/form-data)
$request->addPostFile('my_file', '/path/to/file', 'plain/text');
// Remove a POST file by POST key name
$request->removePostFile('my_other_file');
.. tip::
Adding a large number of POST fields to a POST request is faster if you use the ``addPostFields()`` method so that
you can add and process multiple fields with a single call. Adding multiple POST files is also faster using
``addPostFiles()``.
Working with cookies
--------------------
Cookies can be modified and retrieved from a request using the following methods:
.. code-block:: php
$request->addCookie($name, $value);
$request->removeCookie($name);
$value = $request->getCookie($name);
$valueArray = $request->getCookies();
Use the :doc:`cookie plugin ` if you need to reuse cookies between requests.
.. _request-set-response-body:
Changing where a response is downloaded
----------------------------------------
When a request is sent, the body of the response will be stored in a PHP temp stream by default. You can change the
location in which the response will be downloaded using ``$request->setResponseBody($body)`` or the ``save_to`` request
option. This can be useful for downloading the contents of a URL to a specific file.
Here's an example of using request options:
.. code-block:: php
$request = $this->client->get('http://example.com/large.mov', array(), array(
'save_to' => '/tmp/large_file.mov'
));
$request->send();
var_export(file_exists('/tmp/large_file.mov'));
// >>> true
Here's an example of using ``setResponseBody()``:
.. code-block:: php
$body = fopen('/tmp/large_file.mov', 'w');
$request = $this->client->get('http://example.com/large.mov');
$request->setResponseBody($body);
// You can more easily specify the name of a file to save the contents
// of the response to by passing a string to ``setResponseBody()``.
$request = $this->client->get('http://example.com/large.mov');
$request->setResponseBody('/tmp/large_file.mov');
Custom cURL options
-------------------
Most of the functionality implemented in the libcurl bindings has been simplified and abstracted by Guzzle. Developers
who need access to `cURL specific functionality `_ can still add cURL handle
specific behavior to Guzzle HTTP requests by modifying the cURL options collection of a request:
.. code-block:: php
$request->getCurlOptions()->set(CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT, 200);
Other special options that can be set in the ``curl.options`` array include:
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| debug | Adds verbose cURL output to a temp stream owned by the cURL handle object |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| progress | Instructs cURL to emit events when IO events occur. This allows you to be |
| | notified when bytes are transferred over the wire by subscribing to a request's |
| | ``curl.callback.read``, ``curl.callback.write``, and ``curl.callback.progress`` |
| | events. |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Request options
---------------
Requests options can be specified when creating a request or in the ``request.options`` parameter of a client. These
options can control various aspects of a request including: headers to send, query string data, where the response
should be downloaded, proxies, auth, etc.
.. code-block:: php
$request = $client->get($url, $headers, array('proxy' => 'http://proxy.com'));
See :ref:`Request options ` for more information.
Working with errors
-------------------
HTTP errors
~~~~~~~~~~~
Requests that receive a 4xx or 5xx response will throw a ``Guzzle\Http\Exception\BadResponseException``. More
specifically, 4xx errors throw a ``Guzzle\Http\Exception\ClientErrorResponseException``, and 5xx errors throw a
``Guzzle\Http\Exception\ServerErrorResponseException``. You can catch the specific exceptions or just catch the
BadResponseException to deal with either type of error. Here's an example of catching a generic BadResponseException:
.. code-block:: php
try {
$response = $client->get('/not_found.xml')->send();
} catch (Guzzle\Http\Exception\BadResponseException $e) {
echo 'Uh oh! ' . $e->getMessage();
echo 'HTTP request URL: ' . $e->getRequest()->getUrl() . "\n";
echo 'HTTP request: ' . $e->getRequest() . "\n";
echo 'HTTP response status: ' . $e->getResponse()->getStatusCode() . "\n";
echo 'HTTP response: ' . $e->getResponse() . "\n";
}
Throwing an exception when a 4xx or 5xx response is encountered is the default behavior of Guzzle requests. This
behavior can be overridden by adding an event listener with a higher priority than -255 that stops event propagation.
You can subscribe to ``request.error`` to receive notifications any time an unsuccessful response is received.
You can change the response that will be associated with the request by calling ``setResponse()`` on the
``$event['request']`` object passed into your listener, or by changing the ``$event['response']`` value of the
``Guzzle\Common\Event`` object that is passed to your listener. Transparently changing the response associated with a
request by modifying the event allows you to retry failed requests without complicating the code that uses the client.
This might be useful for sending requests to a web service that has expiring auth tokens. When a response shows that
your token has expired, you can get a new token, retry the request with the new token, and return the successful
response to the user.
Here's an example of retrying a request using updated authorization credentials when a 401 response is received,
overriding the response of the original request with the new response, and still allowing the default exception
behavior to be called when other non-200 response status codes are encountered:
.. code-block:: php
// Add custom error handling to any request created by this client
$client->getEventDispatcher()->addListener('request.error', function(Event $event) {
if ($event['response']->getStatusCode() == 401) {
$newRequest = $event['request']->clone();
$newRequest->setHeader('X-Auth-Header', MyApplication::getNewAuthToken());
$newResponse = $newRequest->send();
// Set the response object of the request without firing more events
$event['response'] = $newResponse;
// You can also change the response and fire the normal chain of
// events by calling $event['request']->setResponse($newResponse);
// Stop other events from firing when you override 401 responses
$event->stopPropagation();
}
});
cURL errors
~~~~~~~~~~~
Connection problems and cURL specific errors can also occur when transferring requests using Guzzle. When Guzzle
encounters cURL specific errors while transferring a single request, a ``Guzzle\Http\Exception\CurlException`` is
thrown with an informative error message and access to the cURL error message.
A ``Guzzle\Http\Exception\MultiTransferException`` exception is thrown when a cURL specific error occurs while
transferring multiple requests in parallel. You can then iterate over all of the exceptions encountered during the
transfer.
Plugins and events
------------------
Guzzle request objects expose various events that allow you to hook in custom logic. A request object owns a
``Symfony\Component\EventDispatcher\EventDispatcher`` object that can be accessed by calling
``$request->getEventDispatcher()``. You can use the event dispatcher to add listeners (a simple callback function) or
event subscribers (classes that listen to specific events of a dispatcher). You can add event subscribers to a request
directly by just calling ``$request->addSubscriber($mySubscriber);``.
.. _request-events:
Events emitted from a request
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A ``Guzzle\Http\Message\Request`` and ``Guzzle\Http\Message\EntityEnclosingRequest`` object emit the following events:
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Event name | Description | Event data |
+==============================+============================================+==========================================+
| request.before_send | About to send request | * request: Request to be sent |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| request.sent | Sent the request | * request: Request that was sent |
| | | * response: Received response |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| request.complete | Completed a full HTTP transaction | * request: Request that was sent |
| | | * response: Received response |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| request.success | Completed a successful request | * request: Request that was sent |
| | | * response: Received response |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| request.error | Completed an unsuccessful request | * request: Request that was sent |
| | | * response: Received response |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| request.exception | An unsuccessful response was | * request: Request |
| | received. | * response: Received response |
| | | * exception: BadResponseException |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| request.receive.status_line | Received the start of a response | * line: Full response start line |
| | | * status_code: Status code |
| | | * reason_phrase: Reason phrase |
| | | * previous_response: (e.g. redirect) |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| curl.callback.progress | cURL progress event (only dispatched when | * handle: CurlHandle |
| | ``emit_io`` is set on a request's curl | * download_size: Total download size |
| | options) | * downloaded: Bytes downloaded |
| | | * upload_size: Total upload bytes |
| | | * uploaded: Bytes uploaded |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| curl.callback.write | cURL event called when data is written to | * request: Request |
| | an outgoing stream | * write: Data being written |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| curl.callback.read | cURL event called when data is written to | * request: Request |
| | an incoming stream | * read: Data being read |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
Creating a request event listener
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's an example that listens to the ``request.complete`` event of a request and prints the request and response.
.. code-block:: php
use Guzzle\Common\Event;
$request = $client->get('http://www.google.com');
// Echo out the response that was received
$request->getEventDispatcher()->addListener('request.complete', function (Event $e) {
echo $e['request'] . "\n\n";
echo $e['response'];
});